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Having conversations with children who are learning English in addition to their home languages鈥攔eferred to in this article as听multilingual children鈥攊s an essential skill for early childhood educators. Such engagement has implications for multilingual children鈥檚 developing identities as valued and knowledgeable members of their communities as well as for their language learning. Discussions between educators and children have been shown to facilitate language learning by providing children with models for use of language and responsive communication and by offering teachers frequent opportunities to check for comprehension (e.g., Mashburn et al. 2008; Ruston & Schwanenflugel 2010; Chapman de Sousa 2017). Conversations also contextualize topics, making topics relevant to multilingual children and potentially motivating them to practice using their new language just beyond their independent level鈥攁 practice that facilitates language development (Swain 2005).

Instructional conversations, which are small group discussions among children and teachers that focus on a learning goal (Tharp & Entz 2003), promote the language development of multilingual children (Institute of Educational Sciences 2006; Portes et al. 2017). Yet, to be effective, these conversations must engage multilingual children as active participants. Unfortunately, research indicates that in preschool classrooms serving culturally and linguistically diverse learners, interactions between educators and children are often in the form of giving and receiving directions, with limited opportunities for children to practice producing multiword sentences (Justice et al. 2008). Multilingual students who attended public schools in the United States have reported feeling 鈥渢ongue-tied鈥� and 鈥渟ilenced鈥� (Santa Ana 2004). Early childhood educators can address these concerns by using pedagogy that facilitates and values all children鈥檚 contributions and voices.

As an instructional coach, I have often been asked for tips on encouraging multilingual children to join classroom conversations. In this article, I offer five strategies that take into account the unique aspects of learning an additional language and capitalize on the social and interactive nature of early childhood classrooms: use children鈥檚 home languages as a resource; pair conversations with joint activities; coparticipate in activities; use small groups; and respond to children鈥檚 contributions.

The research behind these tips is grounded in the work of the Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence (CREDE). Instructional conversations are a central aspect of the CREDE pedagogy, which has been shown to promote diverse learners鈥� academic achievement (Tharp 1982; Hilberg, Tharp, & DeGeest 2000; Doherty et al. 2003; Portes et al. 2017). This model emphasizes building relationships, and it supports teachers in helping children develop their complex thinking (Yamauchi et al. 2012) as well as their language and literacy skills (Saunders & Goldenberg 2007; Chapman de Sousa 2017).

The CREDE Hawai驶i project partnered with the听University of Hawai驶i at M膩noa Children鈥檚 Center, a culturally and linguistically diverse preschool on O鈥檃hu. Administrators and teachers at the center helped refine the CREDE model for teaching in early childhood (for a full description, see Yamauchi, Im, & Schonleber 2012). The center serves an international community whose members speak over 30 distinct languages.听While the primary language of instruction is English, the educators encourage inclusion of Hawaiian and the children鈥檚 various home languages. The following engagement ideas include examples from observing and interviewing educators who have developed expertise in engaging diverse and multilingual children.

1. Use children鈥檚 home languages as a resource

Even if you do not speak the home languages of children in your program, you can still include their languages in conversations. Get help from family members by inviting them to come teach you and the class important words; also ask them for recommendations on literature and songs written and recorded in their languages. Additionally, remember that it is always possible to respond to children鈥檚 communications, regardless of whether or not you speak the same language. You can do so with body language and other ways to communicate, such as using pictures and objects. Responding to children鈥檚 multilingual contributions sends the message that diversity is valued in your classroom. It shows multilingual children that they have important ideas and questions to contribute, and that all forms of communication are of value.

To emphasize how deeply connected multilingual children鈥檚 forms of communication are, scholars have introduced the idea of听迟谤补苍蝉濒补苍驳耻补驳颈苍驳鈥�using children鈥檚 full language abilities to encourage learning (Garc铆a & Wei 2014). This is a conscious effort to alter the widespread concept of multilingualism as fluency in separate languages and instead emphasize that multilingual people have 鈥渙ne linguistic repertoire鈥� (Garc铆a & Wei 2014, 2). For early childhood educators, this concept may help reinforce the importance of encouraging children to communicate using their complete linguistic repertoires, including multimodal communication such as gesturing and drawing.

If you or other educators at your center speak additional languages, use those as another resource for creating a classroom ecology that celebrates diverse contributions. During my classroom observations in the center, I saw several examples of teachers capitalizing on their own and children鈥檚 multilingualism during instructional conversations. The children consistently responded with increased engagement.

During one observation, Kisho, a 4-year-old boy who had recently moved with his family from Japan to Hawai驶i, was painting using mashed-up berries with his teacher, Ms. Rheta, and 4-year-old Cody. Speaking Japanese, Kisho asked things like, 鈥淲hat is in here?,鈥� while pointing at the berry dye, and 鈥淐an you eat it?鈥� Ms. Rheta, who understood Japanese, answered his questions in English and Japanese while also gesturing, pointing, and showing pictures on her camera. Later, Cody said, 鈥淒on鈥檛 eat鈥� and repeated the Japanese word for 鈥渃an鈥檛 eat鈥� that Kisho had used.

This example shows how inclusive practices can benefit multilingual children and their peers: multilingual children have expanded opportunities to engage in learning, and peers discover there are numerous ways of describing the world. As was the case with Cody, peers are often are excited to hear and learn new words. The translanguaging during their conversation created opportunities for conceptual and linguistic development for both children鈥攂ut they were particularly important for Kisho. Kisho could ask questions in his home language and engage with the nature and art concepts long before he became proficient in English. His engagement increased, and he heard new vocabulary being used in a meaningful way. Ms. Kristi, another educator at the center, said that translanguaging 鈥渉elps children be part of the group, and it helps them feel knowledgeable . . . so they can share a piece of themselves and the others can learn from them. It brings up their esteem.鈥�

2. Pair conversations with听joint activities

There are several reasons why joint activities in small groups promote conversation: a shared activity gives participants a common subject to talk about; the tools or props related to the activity can aid in communication; and educators can tailor the activity and, based on the interests of the children participating, guide the conversation, thereby increasing the children鈥檚 motivation and the likelihood that they will share their ideas. Such learning, paired with activities, is a central component of the CREDE framework for instruction (Tharp & Entz 2003; Yamauchi, Im, & Schonleber 2012).

The educators I observed consistently used relevant and meaningful objects鈥攕uch as paintbrushes, puppets, spoons, and pictures鈥攚hen they invited multilingual children to join activities. While pointing to or holding up an object, teachers often coupled an invitation with a question. During the activity, the children could see the topic of conversation and could contribute nonverbally by pointing to or moving the object (instead of trying to rely solely on words). This supported the children鈥檚 participation and conceptual development, and their motivation to communicate and complete the task. Because there were multiple members in the group working together, communication was required to accomplish the goals of the activity.

Examples of activities I observed included jointly painting fabric, preparing food and cooking, and acting out pictures from a multilingual text. These types of conversations with activities supported by relevant objects have been shown to facilitate children鈥檚 comprehension and engagement (Hamilton 2014; DiGiacomo & Guti茅rrez 2016).

Relationships with family members are fundamental to the Children鈥檚 Center鈥檚 philosophy. Educators welcome family members to join classroom activities. The small group format lends itself to having family volunteers in class, sharing their expertise and aspects of their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. For example, during a multilingual book reading activity I observed, Ms. Kristi asked a child whose family was from Argentina how to say听crab听in Spanish. The child paused to remember, and Ms. Kristi suggested, pointing, 鈥淎sk your mom. She is right there.鈥� The child looked to her mom, who said, 鈥�Cangrejo,鈥� and the child repeated听cangrejo, smiling and adding, 鈥淚 have that music,鈥� referring to a song they listened to at home.

3. Coparticipate in activities

The educators participated in activities with the children for an extended period of time (15 minutes or longer). Coparticipating enabled the teachers to provide ongoing and responsive assistance as compared with briefly visiting groups while rotating around the classroom or engaging children in a whole group setting. Joining the activities increases opportunities for educators and children to provide feedback to one another, which is essential to the learning process (DiGiacomo & Guti茅rrez 2016). Educators can listen to, assess, and assist children鈥檚 developing conceptual and linguistic understandings. For example, I observed Ms. WenDee working with a small group of 2-year-olds to make pretzels. A multilingual child in the group confused the words for flour and sugar. In response, Ms. WenDee paused the mixing activity to have the children taste both ingredients and discuss the substances鈥� similarities and differences.

Children鈥檚 responses when teachers paint, draw, or cook along with them can be surprising. Coparticipating in activities with children naturally leads to modeling. It encourages more participation and helps teachers ask more open-ended and contextualized questions than when overseeing from the sidelines or just dropping in to ask questions. Multilingual children tend to watch their teachers and peers for nonverbal cues about what they are supposed to be doing and saying.

When teachers and multilingual children coconstruct a product, they often also coconstruct a conversation. Such interaction constitutes 鈥渓anguage learning in progress鈥� (Swain 2013, 6). Collaborating on a joint product requires the contributors to discuss the steps using all of their language resources to negotiate meaning and arrive at mutual understanding. For example, a reoccurring joint activity at the Center is removing worm castings (to be used later in a classroom garden) from a composting bin. The activity requires separating the worms from the castings and then replacing the worms in the bin with fresh newspaper. I observed Mr. Raymond collaborate on this task with three 4-year-old children. Mr. Raymond started the activity by putting on plastic gloves and laying out newspaper. As he worked, three children came to observe him, and he invited them to help. They put on plastic gloves and listened attentively as Mr. Raymond described how to handle the worms gently and put them back in the bin with moist paper. While the children worked, they asked questions about the worms鈥� habitat, the moistness of the paper, and how to care for living things. By being a part of the action instead of just observing from the sidelines, educators can serve as a bridge to the activity for multilingual children and promote their interaction with other children.
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4. Use small groups

Encourage other children to join in activities, but limit group sizes to no more than six. Small group settings help make an activity more conversational, relieving some of the performance pressure children may feel when in a whole group setting or one-on-one with an educator. Also, peer modeling and support can promote multilingual children鈥檚 language development and engagement (Ohta 2000). In the painting interaction described previously, Cody provided conceptual assistance to Kisho by making statements like, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how you dye colors.鈥� Small groups encourage multilingual children to take risks, such as verbalizing more often and asking questions, as was the case with Kisho while painting with Cody and Ms. Rheta. Language is learned through use, so children need ample opportunities to practice speaking and negotiating meaning (Gibbons 2015). Kisho was motivated to ask questions and to talk about the berries the dye was made from because he was curious and wanted to know if they were edible. He was comfortable verbalizing in this setting, and the group size allowed Ms. Rheta time to hear and respond to his questions. Multilingual children are likely to watch how you interact with others, and your responsiveness can help them feel valued.

Consider the seating arrangement when designing small group activities. Experiment with different arrangements and notice how the children respond. Some may contribute more to the conversation when they are right next to you. Other children may prefer direct eye contact from you to cue them to contribute, so having them across from you may promote their participation. Things like culture, family norms, personal preferences, and gender can influence how children engage in conversation. This is a great time to be a teacher-researcher and notice ways you can adjust the seating to encourage multilingual children鈥檚 engagement.

At the center, the children are free to join and leave small group activities as they wish; however, the teachers will invite some children to join groups based on the teachers鈥� learning goals. For example, it may be advantageous to have multiple children in the group who speak the same home language so they can support one another鈥檚 conceptual understanding through use of their familiar language. At other times, it may be helpful to include peers with more advanced English.

All of the educators I interviewed emphasized the importance of establishing classroom values with the children at the beginning of the year that are reinforced daily. These values emphasize helping one another, accepting mistakes, and being kind. The educators embody respect through their use of an inclusive pedagogy that actively elicits children鈥檚 contributions and builds on their interests and backgrounds; this promotes positive interactions and respectful behavior from the children.

5. Respond to children鈥檚 contributions

The educators at the center were masterful at responding to the multilingual children鈥檚 attempts to communicate. The table below summarizes the verbal and nonverbal responses to the children that teachers used frequently.

Responding to children鈥檚 contributions promotes engagement and learning. For example, recasting during educator鈥揷hild interactions can benefit multilingual children鈥檚 language learning (Tsybina et al. 2006). During a pretzel-making activity, Dominic said as he rolled out his pretzel dough, 鈥淚 rolling round.鈥� Ms. WenDee responded by recasting his comment as a question, 鈥淎re you rolling it?鈥� That was helpful because it modeled a grammatically correct question; an even more helpful recasting would have also included the vocabulary word听dough, as in 鈥淎re you rolling the dough?鈥� Ms. WenDee also mirrored the children鈥檚 gestures, communicating a shared understanding of the concepts in a nonverbal way. At one point, Dominic was counting the three ingredients on his hand; Ms. WenDee mirrored the gesture by holding up the same three fingers, touching them to the child鈥檚, and saying, 鈥淚 have the same as you.鈥�

鈥淟anguage learning is not just a cognitive struggle, it is a cognitive and emotional struggle鈥� (Swain 2013, 11). Being responsive ensures that teachers build on children鈥檚 thinking听and听communicates that the teachers value children鈥檚 ideas, questions, and concerns. One way to study your responsiveness to multilingual children, including how you are communicating verbally and nonverbally, is to have a colleague videotape your interactions. Notice your facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, and tone of voice听as you engage with the multilingual children.

Responding to the children鈥檚 comments, questions, and body language (such as puzzled looks or gestures) will enable you to make links between the activity and what was interesting to the children. Being responsive helps make instruction relevant and meaningful.听For example, during the painting activity referenced earlier, Kisho asked Ms. Rheta, 鈥淜ore nani ireta?,鈥� which means 鈥淲hat did you put in this?,鈥� regarding the paint. Ms. Rheta stopped and responded by gesturing and repeating the word 鈥渂erries.鈥� She then elaborated, gesturing in a picking motion while telling Kisho that a group of children picked the berries from a nearby tree. Ms. Rheta brought out her camera and showed Kisho photos from the berry picking to support his understanding. During our interview, Ms. Rheta told me that the learning goal for the activity was to help the children understand how certain things, like dye, can come directly from nature. Ms. Rheta responsively used Kisho鈥檚 questions as an opportunity to address the learning goal.

Conclusion

Research and observations of effective educators indicate that coparticipating with multilingual children in small group conversations centered on a joint activity, responding verbally and nonverbally to children鈥檚 contributions, and using the children鈥檚 home languages as a tool for understanding are ways to promote their engagement and learning. Instructional conversations give multilingual children opportunities to share their expertise and thoughts, promoting language development (Institute of Educational Sciences 2006; Chapman de Sousa 2017; Portes et al. 2017). Central to these strategies is creating opportunities for children to speak and share their ideas, solve problems together, and value diversity.

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